Here is the start on my GMO/non-GMO Gluten-Free Food List as I contact gluten-free companies one by one while adding each response to this list. Keep in mind that if companies are certified with the Non-GMO Project, I will not be contacting them.

Unlike like me, my husband and my girls consume small amounts of gluten-free processed foods. However, with each day that passes, with the more I learn and with the more I educate Greg, Greg and I both try to reduce those now small amounts of processed foods consumed in our home even more (GMOs, inorganic arsenic in rice, breads converting to sugar upon ingestion, the list goes on…). Nevertheless, whether whole foods or healthy processed foods, Greg and I are both committed to ensuring that the food consumed in our home is as non-GMO as possible. However, since most GF processed foods (especially GF flours for baking) are not organic, avoiding GMOs becomes more of a challenge, and as Bob’s Red Mill states below, I realize that avoiding GMOs 100% is next to impossible with cross pollination from the enormous GMO crops in our country and throughout the world, but I will continue trying my best to avoid GMOs to the best of my ability.

As a side note, it is easy for me to eat a fully raw organic diet because I have an all-or-nothing personality boarder lining addictive (I try to use it for good, not evil), but if your husband is like mine, getting the entire family onboard with a fully plant-based diet with no processed foods proves a bit challenging at times, especially when it has been less than a year since my husband transitioned from an entirely processed, casein-filled unhealthy vegetarian diet that remained exactly the same for well over 20 years. I have to pick my spots, and Greg and I have compromised – if it is organic and non-GMO, exceptions can be made (like I said, I am all or nothing and I prefer no GMOs). Nevertheless, Greg has been drinking green juice and a smoothie everyday for over a year now while more recently creating plant-based meals in the kitchen. Greg realizes that he is setting such a great example for our girls. Greg and I used to be polar opposites, but with each day, we become a lot more alike…

Without further ado, here are the GMO responses thus far (GMO and non-GMO responses are not separated because this is a difficult claim with many grey areas – it’s up for you to decide where each company stands):

Ancient Harvest: “Please note that all of our products are NON-GMO, we used to state this on our boxes, and when we went organic we took the statement off our boxes, but next year we will be re-instating it just so there is no confusion to this fact” (webpage: 25 October 2012).

Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods: “All of our products originate from identity-preserved, non-GMO seeds. This means that the seed planted in the ground is non-GMO. We do not guarantee the complete absence of GMO materials in our products because of wind drift, pollinators and our lack of testing equipment” (Website: 19 October 2012).

Ener-G: “Ener-G Foods has had some items listed on the NonGMO project but due to the high cost we didn’t list the entire line (over 120 items). The Non-GMO Project does not guarantee that products are Non-GMO they just say that they have looked at the products and they conform to their standards. It is not legal in this country to make a NON-GMO claim on any product. The FDA and FTC have ruled that statement as being an ‘unfair trade’ comparison since there has been no testing of Non-GMO products verses GMO products. It should be noted however that Ener-G Foods exports to Europe, Asia, Central and South America and other regions of the world (that are not controlled by the petroleum and pharmaceutical companies) that require a Non-GMO declaration of products at their customs houses” (Email: 19 October 2012).

I am sure you are having the same reaction that I had when I read Ener-G’s response and accusations towards the Non-GMO Project’s certification, especially if you are like me and look for that beautiful butterfly when buying food for your family and your little ones. Needless to say, I needed to contact the Non-GMO Project with Ener-G’s claims (but without the identity of whom made those claims).

Here’s the Non-GMO’s Response:Non-GMO Project: “You can access more information about our verification process at: http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/understanding-our-seal/. As for the Non-GMO Project only “looking at” products, this is false. We test every batch of GMO risk ingredients before they are used in a Non-GMO Project Verified product. Yes, products do need to be compliant with our standard, but this includes rigorous testing, traceability, and product segregation. We have an action threshold of .9%–which is compliant with the European standard. We don’t make a “GMO Free” claim because this is never a legally defensible claim. For example, we can’t test every box of verified cereal that is on a store shelf. As for the claim below stating that it is illegal to make a non-GMO claim this is false as well. We have over 6,000 verified products. At this time it is legal, as long it is accurate and not positioning non-GMO food as being healthier than GMO foods” (24 October 2012).

King Arthur: “While we strive to offer non-GMO ingredients across the board, some of our suppliers are unable to verify that their products are 100% non-GMO, due to the complexity of sourcing some of their components. Thankfully, there’s no GMO wheat grown for commercial sale in the U.S.; so all of our wheat-based flours are non-GMO” (Website: 19 October 2012).

Mrs. Glee’s Gluten Free Foods: “All Mrs. Glee’s products are non-GMO. We use the Michigan navy bean as a base for all our products. We use beans for a superior nutritional/fiber profile and have created a proprietary process to eliminate the bean flavor. All our products are made in a dedicated GFCO certified gluten-free facility. We have two flours, a one-for-one substitute called Performance Blend and we also sell the Navy Bean Flour that you can use to custom blend your own flour mixes and pastas” (Reply from company: 19 October 2012).

Namaste Foods: “All Namaste Foods LLC products and ingredients are, to the best our knowledge, considered to be non-GMO in that they are produced with the addition of no genetically modified organisms” (Website: 19 October 2012).

Nutiva: “None of our products have GMO ingredients in them. Our entire product line is 100% third party certified USDA Organic” (Email: 19 October 2012).

Pamela’s Products: “We have statements from all of our suppliers verifying our ingredients are non-GMO. We are currently preparing to join the non-GMO Project, and are working closely with our vendors to assure the quality and source of all our ingredients” (Website: 03 December 2012).

Udi’s Gluten Free Foods: “At Udi’s, we use ingredients from natural sources, our products are verified non-GMO by third party testing. We appreciate the question and please let us know if we can help with anything else” (Email: 11 October 2012).

XO Baking Company: “Never. We only use unmodified ingredients” (Website: 19 October 2012).

Check out healthy, gluten free foods at http://deals.foodsniffr.com/gluten-free-and/gluten-free.html. Most of the foods we sell at our online health food store FoodSniffr Deals are all natural, non-GMO, and made by small, artisan manufacturers.

So happy to have found your site! I have a radio show that is all about brain and body health. You have been very instrumental in researching my show on the 23rd. My show is called Head Games and airs every Sat. 10:00am MST, Mile High Sports, here in Denver. Also streamed live and throughout the week on MileHighSports.com. Next show is Dave from Dave’s Killer Bread. Thanks so much I will be an active reader from now on!
Cheers,
Meegan

We want to make sure you and your readers are aware that ALL 38 of Enjoy Life Foods Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly products are verified non-GMO by the non-GMO Project. Many of our products currently do not have the label on the packaging due to the fact that as a sustainable company, we choose to not throw out packaging when changes are made. As we use up current packaging, all new packaging will carry the non-GMO label.

It is my understanding that there is no ‘non GMO’ wheat anymore since it was first modified in the 70s. Thanks for the list. Wish I could know if EnerG’s products are actually GMO free… Their pretzels in particular. They seem really defensive. Hmm.

Jennifer,
The wheat today is a hybrid wheat, not GMO. GMO wheat has never been approved and recently (spring 2013) GMO wheat had been found for the first time to have contaminated wheat fields in Oregon causing Japan to no longer buy wheat from the US (one of our top exporting countries).
GMO wheat is not legal in our food supply anywhere in the world, but yes, our wheat today is much different than the wheat our grandparents used to eat. It is a hybrid that is much shorter and withstands harsher weather conditions.
Much Love!
Priscilla

The U.S. can call it a hybrid but it’s been genetically modified. The genetic makeup of our grandparents wheat is different than the wheat of today. To say it isn’t a GMO is splitting hairs….or rather political spin.

The way I Understand distinguishing wheat differences today is:
Many years ago the term “Waves of grain” referred to the plant that yielded 2 bushels of wheat per acre and stood 4 – 4.5 feet tall.
GMO wheat is 18 Inches tall and yields 90 bushels per acre.
Seems the shortest distance between two points when lines get fuzzy is to ask the obvious 2 questions.
How tall are (ea farm) wheat crops?
How much is (ea farm) yielding per acre?
Dont let on about why you are inquiring, those lines might Somehow get fuzzy again.
OR better yet go to the field measure the height of the wheat before harvest then question the farmer.

Thank you so much. This is a really helpful list…We are already gluten dairy free, no additives, artificial colors or flavors…BUT…I wasn’t 100% confident that some of the gluten free foods we eat, (UDI’s bread) were non GMO. I just viewed a You Tube Jeffrey Smith (Genetic Roulette) interview re: Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide, specifically Glyphosate in GMO’s…Shocking info…worth a view if you haven’t see in it. Thank you again!

I was told by someone who runs a gluten free business that Udi’s bread contains “enzymes” and that the government does not require that these “enzymes” be listed as what they really are because enzymes are considered part of the process of baking rather than an ingredient and so the are not required to be honest. This enzyme is a genetically modified bacteria that allows the bread to be frozen for long periods of time and then put on the shelf looking fresh. I don’t want to waste my time researching this, but will have to. Udis says they’re non-GMO but I’m not buying it. They’re not fully disclosing what’s in their food. I no longer trust their brand and will not recommend to anyone else.

I’ve heard too many folks’ replies to being Verified Non-GMO being that “it costs too much to get Verified” to “if it’s Organic, it’s not a GMO product” to one reply right here “we are Verified but don’t want to waste our (pre-Verified) packaging”.

If you want my dollars ($$) you’ll spend your dollars ($$) and be proud to be a Verified Non-GMO product. If it isn’t Verified, I buy local so that I can Verify.

Udi’s Gluten Free foods do contain GMO ingredients, I don’t understand why they would state otherwise. I am not saying all their products contain GMO but the products I’ve looked into buying, I opted out of due to Gmo Ingredients.

Modern wheat has been hybridized (crossing different strains to generate new characteristics; 5% of proteins generated in the offspring, for instance, are not present in either parent), backcrossed (repeated crossing to winnow out a specific trait, e.g., short stature), and hybridized with non-wheat plants (to introduce entirely unique genes). There are also chemical-, gamma-, and x-ray mutagenesis, i.e., the use of obnoxious stimuli to induce mutations that can then be propagated in offspring. By definition, hybridization, backcrossing, and mutation-inducing techniques are difficult to control, unpredictable, and generate plenty of unexpected results. In short, they are worse than genetic-modification. Imagine we were to apply similar techniques of hybridization and mutagenesis to mammals–we’d have all manner of bizarre creatures and genetic freaks on our hands.

Thank you so much for posting this. I am a Celiac and my youngest daughter is too. We have been gluten-free for almost 3 years. We have also cut dyes and artificial additives. Most food I buy I like to be organic and non-GMO and always wondered about Udi’s and Glutino since they are staples in my house with a 4 year old Celiac! From one mom to the next a sincere THANKS!

I take issue with the claim that no wheat in the U.S. grown for commercial use is a GMO. Wheat has been genetically motified for years. The genetic structure of wheat today is monumentally different than the wheat used by my great grandparents.

This was posted on GMO Free’s FB page today.We had called Udi’s Gluten Free over a year ago and we were told at that time that they were sourcing NON-GMO ingredients and in the process of undergoing Non-GMO Project Verification. We followed up on Friday and they told us again that they are sourcing Non-GMO ingredients and going through Non-GMO Project Verification. When pressed about the fact that we had seen two different bread packages on the shelf – one with the familiar packaging that listed non-GMO canola and an identical loaf with a different label that listed just “canola”, they played dumb. We pressed as to why the corn syrup solids were not labeled non-GMO and we did not receive a satisfactory answer. We then asked about their pizza crust. We were put on hold. When the customer service rep returned, she told us that the baked goods are non-GMO but the pizza crust is GMO. From what we can tell, Udi’s does have granola bars & pita chips that have been Non-GMO Project Verified, but nothing else. They admit that their pizza crusts are made with Roundup Ready GMO corn. This leads us to ask…what about the rest of the baked goods & other products that have the same corn syrup solid and other corn ingredients on their labels and are NOT verified non-GMO? Are the token non-GMO verified products there just to give us a warm cozyfeeling and there to sell everything else? What do you think?
I emailed Udi and got the same response you did, but I checked the bag of bread I bought at Costco and there is no mention of it being GMO free only GF free. How can we trust that what they are telling us is true if they do not name the third party that is certifying their product GMO free?

This is wonderful!! Thank you! As someone who is new to the GF world and to wanting to use as many a non-GMO and organic products as possible, this was very helpful! I am excited to begin following you!!

This was VERY informative. I am in the process of pushing ahead past my 40% commitment of going gluten free and researching the GMO affects. This gave me the single best resource to do this. Plus, I can order groceries direct from the companies or look for the items on the great list provided. I appreciate not giving up breakfast foods and desserts. By Thanksgiving I will be able to switch up the tables without no one knowing they’re eating healthier. Thank you , thank you, thank you

Hi! I’m wondering if you are updating this list, and if so can you include our company on this? We sell only non GMO, organic, and gluten free mixes that are absolutely delicious! And, we do not add in anything extra…just a very basic mix, free of all the major 8 allergens! Thank you! Amy